Vending apparatus.



Patented lune l8, I901.

No. 676,53I.

M. S. CODY. VENDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Apr. 21, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheeiv-Shagt l.

rm: Mom": min: 00.. "momma. WHNIIOTDN. u. c.

No. 676,53l. Patented lune l8, I901.

M. S. CODY.

VENDING APPARATUS.

[Application filed Apr. 21, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets$heet 2.

No. 676,531. Ptnted lune l8, l90l. M. S. CODY. VENDING APPARATUS. (Anmion filed-A91. 21, 1900.

3 Shaats$h eet 3.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILES S. CODY, OF WVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

VENDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 676,531, dated June 18,1901. Applicationfiled April 21, 1900. $erial No, 13,756. (N 0 model.)

To all whom, it 1120; concern.-

Be it known that I, MILES S. CODY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented newand useful Improvements in Vending Apparatus, of which the following isa specification.

My invention relates to improvements in coin-controlled vendingapparatus; and it consists in the peculiar and advantageousvendingapparatus hereinafter described,and particularly pointed out inthe claims appended, which while designed more particularly for vendingblocks of popcorn is calculated to be used to advantage in the sellingof other articles In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a verticalsection of my improved apparatus, taken in the plane indicated by thebroken line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is'a rear view of the apparatus withthe door removed. Fig. 3 is a detail section taken on the broken line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a reduced section taken in the plane indicated bythe broken line 4 at of Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectiontaken in the plane indicated by the broken line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 isa horizontal section taken in the plane of broken line 6 6 of Fig. 1.Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the latch or securing device through themedium of which the discharge-drum of the apparatus is held againstcasual movement. Fig. 8 is a detail section taken in the plane indicatedby the broken line 8 8 of Fig. 1.

In the said drawings similar letters designate corresponding parts inall of the several views, referring to which A is the case of theapparatus, which, by preference, comprises a front panel aof glass, aback door I), and a curved front wall a, having a vertical slot cl and acoin-slot e, and is provided below said wall 0 with an opening f for thedischarge of the blocks of popcorn or other articles to be vended.

B is a platform of the proportional width illustrated, which is fixedlysecured in the case A, as best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6, and O O arevertical guides of sheet metal or other suitable material, which haveflanges g, connected to the front wall of the case A at opposite sidesof the glass panel a and extend from a point adjacent to the platform Bto the upper end of the case A, as shown in Fi l. The guides O aredesigned to retain in position a front column of blocks of popcorn(indicated by D) and are also designed to serve as guides for a holderE, in which is arranged a supplemental column of blocks of popcorn,(indicated by F,) which supplemental column is designed to take theplace of the front column when all of the blocks of the latter have beendischarged from the apparatus, as will be presently described. Theholder E, which is preferably of sheet metal and bottomless, rests atits lower end on the platform B, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 6. Itcomprises a back wall It, side walls 2', and inwardly-directed lips j atthe forward edges of the latter, and when the front column of blocks ofpopcorn has been discharged from the apparatus it is designed to bepressed forward by a bail-spring G, (see Figs. 1 and 6,) which is coiledabout a transverse rod 70, arranged adjacent to the upper end of thecase, and has its upper end connected to the top of the case, as shown.In addition to pressing the holder E forwardly between the guides O andagainst the panel a, so as to enable said holder to guide thesupplemental column of blocks of popcorn down upon the dischargedrum,(presently described) the spring G serves to retain the holder in suchposition, its transverse portion Z entering notches m, provided in theguides O.

H is the discharge-drum of the apparatus, which has trunnions n at itsends journaled in standardsp, rising from the bottom of case A. Thisdrum H is provided at its middle with a worm-screw I, the threads ofwhich are designed to be engaged by a lug r on a lever J, which lever isfulcrumed at its lower end in a short standards on the bottom of thecase and has its upper end arranged to engage a plate t on the rear wallof the holder E, the said plate having a notch u, so as th enable aspring 1), which bears against the lower portion of the lever, to presssaid lever in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 and out ofengagement with the plate after said lever has been moved laterally acertain predetermined distance by the rotation of the discharge-drum, aswill be presently described.

I The drum H is provided on its periphery with eight (more or less)pairs of projections K, the projections of each pairbeing arranged inalinement at opposite sides of the wormscrew I and having forward sidesa disposed radially with respect to the drum, and outer flat sides I),designed to support the lowermost block of popcorn or other article tobe vended. Said drum is also provided at intervals in its periphery andone of its ends with recesses c and in said end with notches d, whichcommunicate with the recesses c, as best shown in Fig. 4. The recesses care designed to receive a beveled lugf on a latch or securing device L,(see Fig. 7,) which latch is' also provided with alug g, designed toenter the notches d of the drum, and is connected in ahinged manner .toone of the standards p and backed by a spring h".

M is a circular disk, which is loosely mounted-on one of the trunnionsof the drum H and is provided with a curvilinear slot 2', receiving theupper portion of the latch L, a series of peripheral ratchet-teethj, aperipheral cam disposed in rear of the teeth j with reference to thedirection in which the disk is turned to rotate the drum H, and aradiallydisposed handle 1, which extends through and is designed to bemoved in the slot 02 of the case. The said disk M is also provided witha coin-chute m, which is disposed laterally with respect thereto and isdesigned to receive a coin passed through the slot e and conduct thesame to one of the recesses c of the drum. When a coin rests in one ofthe recesses c of the drum, its upper portion remains in the chute m ofdisk M, and hence when said disk is turned in the direction of the arrowin Fig. 1 the coin acting against the beveled lug f of the latch L willpress said latch outwardly and removeits lug g from the notch d of thedrum and release the latter, so that it will be turned-until the coindrops out of the recess 0 and chute m and falls down a chute n into thelower portion of the case.

N is a spring, which is connected at one end to a lug 19 on one sidewall of the case (see Fig. 2) and at its opposite end to the disk M andhas for its purpose to return the disk to its normal position (shown inFig. 1) after said disk has been turned in the direction indicated bythe arrow to partially rotate the drum H.

P is a spring-pressed dog, which is fulcrumed at an intermediate pointof its length and is provided at one end with a toe 19 designed toengage the teeth j of disk M, and at its opposite end with a rabbet r,and Q is a spring-backed lever which is provided with a shoulders,designed to engage the rabbeted end of the dog P.

When the disk M is turned in the direction indicated by arrow in Fig. 1,the toe p of the dog P will engage the teeth j of the disk, and therebyprevent retrograde movement of the disk until it has been turned to asufficient extent to discharge a block of popcorn from the-drum H. WVhenthe disk has been turned to the extent stated, the cam 70 of the diskwill depress the toe end of the dog,and thereby column.

raise the rabbeted end thereof sufficiently to enable the shoulder s oflever Q to enter the rabbet r. \Vith this done the toe end of the dog isheld out of engagement with the teeth of the disk until the disk isturned to the normal position, (shown in Fig.1,) when the lug t on thedisk strikes against the lever Q, and thereby disengages said lever fromthe dog and restores the dog to its normal operative position.

WVith two vertical columns of blocks of popcorn in the case A thelowermost block of the front column rests on the sides I? of one pair ofprojections K of drum H, as shown in Fig. 3, and the general operationof the apparatus is as follows: \Vhen a coin is placed in the chute m ofdisk M and assumes a position in said chute and the coincident recess aof the drum H, the disk and drum are connected together, and hence whenthe disk is turned in the direction indicated 'by arrow and latch L ispressed out of engagement with the drum the drum will also be turned.When the drum is turned, the sides a of the projections K in rear ofthose on which the lowermost'block of popcorn rests will force saidblock forwardly and cause it to fall from the drum and the nextuppermost block will then drop upon the sides Z) of the first-mentionedprojections K and remain thereon until the apparatus is again actuated.Vhen the apparatus is operated, as stated, the coin drops from therecess 0' and chute m after the drum has been turned far enough todischarge a block of popcorn, and the disk M is then free to return toits normal position.

\Vhen the apparatus is filled, there are by preference twenty-foursuperposed blocks of popcorn in the front column and twenty-foursuperposed blocks in the supplemental or rear The drum H is provided, asstated, with eight pairs of projections K, and hence it will be seenthat three complete revolutions of the drum are necessary to dischargeall of the blocks of popcorn comprised in the first or front column.

The threads of the worm-screw I of the drum are so arranged that whenthe drum has made three complete revolutions the lever J will have beenmoved laterally a sufiicient distance to carry its upper end intoalinement with the notch a of the plate t on the holder E. When thelever J is thus moved laterally into alinement with the notch U, thespring 1; operates to throw the lever rearwardly, and thereby releasesthe holder E. When the holder is released, the spring G operates to pushit forwardly into a position in advance of the platform 13, so as toenable the lowermost block of the column it contains to drop upon theprojections K of the drum below it. Subsequent to the forward movementof the holder and the dropping of its lowermost block of popcorn on theprojections K of the drum theoperation of the apparatus is the same asthat before described.

WVhile I prefer to have the columns of blocks of popcorn of such heightthat three revolutions of the drum are necessary to discharge all of theblocks of a column, it is obvious that the parts may be so arranged andtimed that the first or forward column will be exhausted and thesupplemental or rear column moved into its place at the completion ofthree (more or less) revolutions of the drum H.

After the apparatus is depleted of blocks of popcorn or other articlesto be vended it is obvious that it may be readily refilled and themechanism may be expeditiously reset to operate in the manner beforedescribed.

It will be readily appreciated from the foregoing that while very simpleand inexpensive my improvements constitute a highly-efficient vendingapparatus and one which is easily operated and is not liable to fail inoperation subsequent to the deposit of a coin of proper denominationtherein.

' I have entered into a description of the specific construction andrelative arrangement of parts comprised in this the preferred embodimentof my invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exactunderstanding of the same. I do not desire, however, to be understood aslimiting myself to such specific construction and arrangement of theparts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice asfairly fall within the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In acoin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination of a rotary,article-delivery drum arranged to be engaged by a coin, a latch normallyengaging the drum and arranged to be disengaged therefrom by a coin inengagement therewith, and a device for rotating the drum, movableindependent of the same, and having coin-engaging means, whereby, when acoin rests in engagement with the drum and the rotating device, saiddrum and rotating device are connected, substantially as specified.

2. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination of a rotarydrum provided at intervals of its periphery with means to receive acoin, a device rotatable independently of the drum and having acoin-chute adapted to register with the coin-receiving means of thedrum, whereby when a coin is deposited in the chute the drum and deviceare connected thereby, and a latch normally engaging the drum and havinga beveled portion arranged to rest in the coin-receiving means of thedrum which is coincident with the chute of the device so as to bedisengaged from the drum by a coin when the device is actuated,substantially as specified.

3. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination of a casehaving a coin-slot and an opening for the discharge of articles to bevended, a discharge-drum arranged in said case and having recesses inits periphery and end adapted to receive coins, a device rotatableindependent of the drum and having a handle extending through an openingin the case and also having a coin-chute adapted to register with theslot in the case and the recesses in the drum, and a latch normallyengaging the drum and having a beveled portion arranged to normally restin the recess of the drum that is coincident with the coin-slot of thecase and the chute of the device so as to be engaged by a coin andrelease the drum when the device is actuated, substantially asspecified.

4. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination of a rotarydrum having recesses at intervals in its periphery and end, a diskrotatable independently of the drum and having a coin-chute adapted toregister with the recesses of the drum and also having ratchet-teeth onits periphery and a cam and lug arranged in rear of said teeth, a latchfor the drum having a beveled portion adapted to enter the recessesthereof, a dog arranged to engage the teeth of the disk and be engagedby the cam thereof, and a lever arranged to engage the dog and beengaged by the lug on the disk, substantially as specified.

5. In a coin-controlled vending apparatus, the combination with therotary disk having ratchet-teeth on its periphery and also having a camand a lug arranged in rear of said teeth, a spring for retaining saiddisk to its normal position, a dog arranged to engage the teeth of thedisk and be engaged by the cam thereof, and a lever arranged to engagethe dog and be engaged by the lug of the disk, substantially asspecified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

MILES S. CODY.

Witnesses:

G. H. RAEDER, THOMAS E. TURPIN.

